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Waste Water Treatment in Uk with Low Cost

Technologies Using Farm Ponds

Mohammed jalaluddin

student at Teesside university, UK

Abstract

In general, the sanitation field seems to live the life of an orphan in many Pacific Island

Countries. In many cases this important sector of public health has been left alone when major

upgrading projects improved the water supply systems in many countries and provinces. This

basically ignored the downstream effect of improved water supply, that of increased

discharges into rivers or aquifers. Two reasons appear to be the major cause for that: firstly,

wastewater collection and treatment is costly and their benefit often hard to show; and

secondly, even if low-cost solutions are being implemented many projects fail to deliver the

expected outcome. Without pretending to reflect the complexity of sanitation projects three

principal reasons may be held accountable for the non-delivery problems: · The technology

was not appropriate, · The beneficiary was not involved and consulted sufficiently, and · The

responsibilities within government were not resolved to ensure the necessary support. During

the last years many rural areas were provided with some kind of water supply system. The

availability of water leads to wider spread use of flush toilet systems. These systems mainly

use simple toilets to discard the waste water either directly into the porous underground or

into simple holes. At the same time many villages still supplement their water supply from

shallow wells which are often located in the direct neighbourhood of the toilets. Even if

landowners consider the possible contamination of their well through their own toilet and

locate them far apart they can not avoid the location of their neighbour’s toilet close to their

well. A similar risk of water body contamination occurs where villages situated on the banks

of a small estuary/lagoon discharge their wastewater without treatment.It is expected that

Small Scale Wastewater Treatment Plants (SSWTP), under certain circumstances, are the

solution for these problems. More specifically the SSWTP technology could be applied

where, · conventional sewage is simply too costly, · environmental conditions require a high

effluent quality, · conventional on-site treatment proved to be of low community acceptance, ·

low technology solution, such as composting toilets seem to be inappropriate The main

purpose of the project is to identify: · current wastewater disposal and treatment techniques, ·

ongoing sanitation initiatives and projects, · stakeholders in the sanitation sector, · the

administration structures related to sanitation projects, · a possible project implementation

agency, · sites for future pilot projects.

Keywords: waste water treatment, evaluation, low scale technologies.

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Introduction:

Water is the most crucial natural resource on the earth and its purity decreases due to the

addition of the contamination of different impure contaminants like microorganisms, calcium,

magnesium salts and high turbidity due to insoluble impurities. This report discusses the

design of the treatment tank to treat the water and reduce the contamination levels. The design

of the tank is generated for effective and efficient flocculation, coagulation and other

treatment processes. The developed design will supply water to a population of 100,000

people.

In the context of the project, these objectives mean that the project is not necessarily trying

to find the best sanitation technology for a given problem but to list the conditions where

SSWTP represents an efficient alternative to either conventional sewage or on-site wastewater

treatment/disposal technologies. To detail these points is within the scope of the SSWTP

project. As the former point basically refers to technical points the project focuses also on

nontechnical problems. Here it is anticipated that the planning and implementation framework

for sanitation projects will be described in a way that allows the future implementation of

such projects.

Water treatment analysis

Water is the natural resource that covers more than 70% of the earth. However, only a

small part of this water is available for drinking purpose. The impurities such as

microorganisms, metal salts and other contaminants pollute the pure water. Therefore, water

treatment plants are designed to reduce the impurities from water and making it usable for the

people. The design of the treatment tank consists of impellers, inlets for water input, outlets

for waste discard and finally the treated water is supplied to the people through pipelines

(Spiller et al, 2015). The requirement of pure water generates because the animate and

inanimate compounds cause numerous diseases like diarrhea, cholera, etc. therefore, it is very

important to design an effective plant for treating the water (Marzouk and Elkadi, 2016). This

water does not need water softening. An even weaker solvent occurs as water is mixed with

co2 to form very low carbonic acid. When water passes through dirt and rock,it dissolves and

retains only small concentrations of minerals in solution. The two most common minerals that

make water warm are calcium and magnesium decreases, which is correlated with the

concentration of multivalent cations dissolved in water.

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Disinfection

The use of disinfectants like chlorine, ozone and ultraviolet rays is done to disinfect the

water and remove the odor from it. This process is done after the suspended impurities are

removed from water. However, a required amount of disinfectant is added to treat water

because hyper amount is lethal to the body. The ozone and UV treatment kills the

microorganisms in the water but they also neutralize all the minerals of the water due to

which the electrolyte content of the body decreases. Therefore, chlorine is a suggested

disinfectant in water treatment

Disposal of the waste

At every step of water treatment, a huge amount of waste generates. All the waste

generated however, is not harmful therefore, the waste is segregated and then used for

different purposes. Many people use the waste as fertilizers in agriculture to improve the

quality of the soil because the waste contains high amount of minerals and salts that are good

for the health of soil. It is also found that people have used the water treatment waste in

production of the bricks due to high amount of gravel in the soil.

Apart from this, the waste should not be disposed directly into the water bodies because of

the high amount of chemical in it. it can be stored in the areas where no leakage and breaches

are present so that it does not flow during rainy days. Therefore, it should be constantly

managed and maintained.

1.1 Assessment of the EBAT

Energy balance assessment tool is a software tool to estimate the total carbon emission of the

treatment plant. The carbon emission is harmful for the environment as it supports global

warming. The trace effluents from the water treatment plants are very high therefore, the

design of the treatment tank should also consider ways to reduce the carbon emission in the

treatment plant.

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1.2Emission of total carbon

The total carbon emission in the form of COD and from other organic and inorganic

sources is very high and is contributing in the environmental problems. The parameters are

used to find the current emission of the carbon in the water treatment plants and it is

12560488 COD Kg/ year. The reduction in the rainfall decreases the amount of water required

therefore, the total emission decreases 100%. The carbon cut was found to be -100% from the

EBAT tool.

According to toolbox provided I found CO2 emission is almost 0.04 kg CO2 e/year.

1.3 Carbon emissions in 2050 when population increase is 0.2%

The population is increasing at an alarming rate and their requirements are also increasing.

Therefore, the carbon emission is also increasing and affecting the environment by

contributing in global warming. If the population increases by 0.2%, the water treatment

plant has to be modified accordingly which can result in the increased carbon and other

greenhouse gas emission like methane. However, new innovative technologies can be

helpful and might result in reduction of the carbon emission (Kiss et al, 2015). Rain water

harvesting technologies can be developed to reduce the energy consumption and carbon

emission from these plants. Total carbon emission would be 0.07288 kg CO2 e/year.

Fig: Illustration of sources of carbon from water treatment plant (CIWEM, 2013)

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1.4 Solutions for carbon neutral treatment plant by 2050

As the technologies are improvising and technologies are emerging, many solutions can

arise for reduction of the carbon emission (Capros et al, 2016). By finding the solutions to

carbon emission the environment can be protected from the harmful effect of the greenhouse

gases. The waste produced is currently used for biogas production. The biogas production is

effective in managing the waste but it produces methane and other gases in large amount due

to which there is dire requirement to outline solutions for the protecting the environment.

Many solutions have been put forward to reduce the carbon emission till 2050 like:

The waste produced can be used in agriculture at a large scale so that the carbon will

not be released in the environment in the form of waste.

Bricks and other gravel objects can be manufactured to decarbonize the environment.

Desalination of the water resources can act as new sources for meeting water scarcity.

Because the increasing population will require more water.

Result and discussion

The results show that the requirement of the effective design is important to treat water

and reduce the carbon emission. The carbon emission results from the energy used in

operation of the tank and the generation of COD. For coagulation tanks, it is advised that the

slow rotation is required for interacting the colloidal and suspended particles. The application

of the Stokes’s law and other equations are used to determine the interaction efficiency of the

particles and power required for operating the treatment tank. The calculated values for the

coagulation and flocculation tank with carbon emission is shown in the table 1 and the

separation of the impurities through different processes is shown in table 2.

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Table 1

No. of tanks 10

Power for mixing 55,803W

diameter of the tank 1.4 m

Total volume for one cycle of treatment 500 liters

Total water treatment if consumption is

20 liter/ person

50,000 gallons/day

Size of the tank 6 meters approximately

Carbon Emission by 2050 0.07288 kg CO2 e/yr

Table 2

E. coli Flocculation 900per 100ml

Calcium ions Coagulation

Magnesium ions Coagulation

Iron Aeration followed by flocculation 100-

300mg/l

Turbidity Clarification and filtration less than 4

NTU

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1.2 Farm Pond

A farm pond is a large hole dug out in the earth, usually square or rectangular in

shape, which harvests rainwater and stores it for future use. It has an inlet to regulate inflow

and an outlet to discharge excess water. The pond is surrounded by a small bund, which

prevents erosion on the banks of the pond. The size and depth depend on the amount of land

available, the type of soil, the farmer’s water requirements, the cost of excavation, and the

possible uses of the excavated earth. Water from the farm pond is conveyed to the fields

manually, by pumping, or by both methods.

Surface pond

Surface ponds are considered to collect surface runoff from farm area into a local

depression or the lowest portion of the farm so that the excavation is minimum expect to

construct the earthen bund surrounding the water body (Fig.3a) These are possible in highly

eroded farm areas with undulating topography. Such farm ponds do not require inlet provision

but is should have outlet provision in the earthen bund to remove the excess flow.

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FIG . FARM POUND

Spring or Creek Fed Ponds

In the ridge portions of the farm area, particularly hilly catchments, after saturation of

the soil, there will be a flow from the subsurface layers drawing water into the pond (Fig.3b)

The sub surface flow is called base flow. It may be a perennial source for water within a farm.

Off Stream Storage Ponds

The streams are seasonal from which water is drawn into the farm pond by diversion

(Fig.3c). When the stream flows are the source of storage, the farm ponds should never be

constructed across the streams and the structure must be located off the stream with proper

diversion of water through pipe or channel.

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Fig:layout of farmpound

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FIG:FARM POUND

Advantages of Farm Ponds

They provide water to start growing crops, without waiting for rain to fall.

They provide irrigation water during dry spells between rainfalls. This increases the

yield, the number of crops in one year, and the diversity of crops that can be grown.

Bunds can be used to raise vegetables and fruit trees,thus supplying the farm

household with an additional source of income and of nutritious food.

Farmers are able to apply adequate farm inputs and perform farming operations at the

appropriate time, thus increasing their productivity and their confidence in farming.

They check soil erosion and minimizes siltation of waterways and reservoirs.

They supplies water for domestic purposes and livestock

They promote fish rearing.

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Conclusion

It can be concluded from the above project that the design of the treatment tank is

important to treat the water effectively. The water contamination can result in number

of diseases therefore, it is very essential to treat the water. It can also be concluded

that the energy balance is important to maintain by reducing the carbon emission in

the environment. The waste disposal management is equally important to maintain the

environment and to stop the leakage of the waste into water reservoirs.We got field

knowledge about the farm pond and pond structures like surface pond, sub surface

ponds and various types of ponds

The farm ponds is useful to the farmers in agricultural areas. Once the farm pond

project is completed it may irrigated few acres of land and it can provide drinking

water facility to few villages .

Farm ponds are also used in industrial areas, residential buildings etc..

Although farm ponds are costly but saves water and nutrient rich top soil from

permanent loss.

There is a need to have active and holding mechanism for making any programme a

success.

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